Coyote Yipps

Coyote scat is not beautiful, but it is a tell-tale sign that coyotes are around. I am adding a blurb here, just for the record. Most coyote scat is long with rope-like twists. It usually is about 3/4″ thick, it is usually sectioned for a total of five to eight inches in length and it ends in an elongated point — this is a gross generalization. It has this form because it is loaded with fur. If the scat is broken apart, the fur becomes even more obvious — not like a dog’s feces. Coyotes eat entire animals, so the indigestible fur is expelled. Coyote scat has a variety of looks: one form I don’t have here is a soft globby pile, often with seeds. Coyotes are opportunistic eaters, which means they will eat whatever they can; and what goes in must come out. Coyote scat has a very distinct “musty” smell — it does not smell at all like dog poop. It’s color runs from greenish to blackish, but I’ve also seen some brown. Unpleasant though the topic might be, coyotes suffer from bouts of diarrhea now and then. I’ve wondered if this is caused by carrion that has gone bad, or by some human food that they might have found.

Coyote scat has been used by Professor Ben Sacks of UC Davis. He has extracted the DNA from the scat to identify what larger group the coyote belongs to, and therefore from where it originated. So scat has very high profile scientific uses! Owl pellets — the undigested portions of an eaten animal that is coughed up by owls — is also studied in detail to help determine exactly what the owl eats. Coyote scat is studied in this way, too.